SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that a teenage girl is entitled to child support from her mother after legally being "emancipated" or freed from the parent's control.

The court issued the ruling Monday in a case involving a 21-year-old college student who had left her home near Espanola at the age of 13 because of alleged violence and substance abuse by the mother's boyfriend.

The high court's ruling upheld a district judge's decision to grant Jhette Diamond about $15,000 in child support from when she was a teenager in 2005 to 2009 when she graduated from high school and turned 18, legally becoming an adult.

A lawyer for Diamond said the child support payments can help cover her client's college expenses.